Eva's journal

I badly needed a hand sewing project for when having tea with Anna, so I started on an Italian 15th century working class gamurra (kirtle) from a hand woven cotton that I bought two years ago. I started with the skirt, since that requires less thinking, but today I actually cut out the bodice.

With the brain fog from my exhaustion I almost always start with the skirt nowadays, because it's easy to cut an it is after all the hand sewing I am after - and then I make the bodice on a day when my brain feels okay.

The reason I did it today was that I got enthusasitic about transcribing 17th century probate inventories, and I am not supposed to work more than 1,5 hours at this stage of my work rehab, so I had to come up with something to occupy me. It was rainign, so I couldn't go for a walk.

I am quilting two layers of linen together for the front tlining, to give it more support, so that will take some time since I am doing it all by hand.

 Well, not really, last weekend there wasn't an event, but going to two events with only a fortnight between them is really rare for me and I look so much forward to this one, which is Nordmark's (Sweden) Coronet Tourney. I haven't 100% decided what to wear yet, except that I'm wearing this for court and feast. 
So I could either go Italian 15th century all the way,. by wearing my working class outift during the day; I ahve made a wool overgown for it so that I won't get too cold (it's below freezing and rather windy at the site, snow is also expected) or I could wear some of my stuff from the high Middle Ages, which probably will be warmer. Or I can just bring along one of my high medieval thick wool overgowns and wear it over the quattrocento gown. So many decisions. I thought that I would want to wear everything but the 13th-early 14th century after Måns and I stepped down, after wearing it for two years, but I really am very enthusiastic over Italian garb from this period.

In any case I will bring my Italian cotton gown, because I'm showing it at the A&S display.

It's five past eight in the morning and I have to work first, so I'll just let those thoughts simmer in the back of my head and make a decision later.

Teh main fabric is some of those 34 metres of red cotton velvet that I bought a couple of eyars ago and the sleeves are made from a chenille brocade table cloth/wall hanging/whatever that I bought in Nicosia when we went to Cyprus in 2014.



The headwear is based on this 1475-1485 marble bust. I love sculptures - you get to see thingsfrom behind and above. I added a veil which is common in portraits and which I thought fitting for a married woman of a certain age ;)

And turned, in this case, since the print really wasn't historical enough. Lots of images here



I've written a short blog post about Italian 15th century coifs here.



The photos are taken by the hospital next to where we live. 19th century architecture can apparently work well as background for Italian renaissance to
And after the photo shoot we raided at the gym there and I finally got an Articuno. Probably the only time someone played Pokémon Go in renaissance clothes around here.

In other news: The holiday was very nice, I bought 15 metres of cotton fabric: 5 metres for curtains in the kitchen (we have three windows, one rather large), 4 metres for a white late 18th century round gown, because obviously I need one of those. I have som printed chintz to use for an open robe over it, cotton broadcloth for a wrap skirt, since I only have one neutral knee length summer skirt that fits me. Patchwork hippie skirts, or ric-rac in abundance is fine, but sometimes you need something more neutral. I also got white, thin cotton broadcloth if I need to make another regency petticoat. Or something. And 2 metres of cotton wit a Halloween print that I hemmed on machine to make it a table cloth for our traditional Halloween dinner.

The first thing I did when we got home on Friday evening was to wash all the fabric and on Saturday I made that skirt.



The blouse is another holiday find: The Salvation Army's 2nd hand shops have racks with blouses for 39 SEK (c. 4,7 dollars) and I bought this one, which is from H&M, and one that I don't think has ever been used, made from white linen.




BTW, here are my holiday photos.

While on Holiday we went to a large, traditional market, where I got lots of cotton hankies, good quality bed sheets, some red and white striped piping, a heart shaped baking tin and two straw hats which will be partly unraveled and made into bonnets.



Some of the fabric was bought at Tygladan, which is close to my home village, and some was bought at Kristinedals fabriker, which not only had lots of nice, cheap fabric, but also used to be a mill making both wool and cotton/linen yarn for weaving.

This was when we visited our friends Kristina and Jonas, who just happened to have this in their barn :)



I did some sewing while on holiday too: I hand sewed most of a new shift for Valeria, it's going to have embroidery at all the seams, and along the sleeves, so I can't add the sleeves until I've made that embroidery. I'm getting supplies for that today. And when I had done as much as I could on the shift I started embroidering on my regency gown again, and I think it will a) be finished for the picninc on the 2nd of September and b) be really pretty.

Last weekend there was a "Medieval Day" at a (semi-)local site where there used to be a castle in the High Middle Ages. Today there is nothing left to see, but it´s a beautiful place next to the sea.

And I swam three times in the sea!

I brought my tent, which I dreaded putting up and taking down for just two days, but it went up really quickly and took almost no time to set up nicely, hiding all the mundane packing stuff behind wall hangings, putting the chest together and putting up mine and Katarina's camping beds.




Rickard was tired after working the whole week, so he and Maja just came down over the day when the market was on Saturday.

Friday night was really perfect - relaxed talking (and some sewing) around the table, with a pot over the fire providing tea water, some wine to drink, and ending with a walk up to the top of the hill where the castle used to be, to look out over the sea.

Saturday was also nice, but you get tired from being "on display" from 10 am to 5 pm, so people went to bed earlier We also wanted to pack early on Sunday morning. But we made a good pottage with whole wheat, carrots, cabbage, onions, bacon and smoked sausages and ate together. Then Gaby and Linus and I went for a swim (my third), we all talked (and sewed) some more. When the others went to bed I took a final walk around the small peninsula, going down to the little beaches or out to the furthest cliffs, before going to bed around midnight. It was a magical feeling those nights, just like it used to be with my old medieval group Nylöse.

Many more photos from the event can be found here.

I also started on a new working class Italian ca 1480s dress from thin wool, and finished everything except the sleeves and six lacing holes . The rest I made yesterday and this morning. 
Of course, when I tried it on it turned out to be too big, so I hade to take it in. It is no fun unpicking all hand sewn garments.

But of course I did it, and this is the result.



It needs an apron and a little white cap, both of which I plan to make this week. Maybe not tomorrow though, because we're going to a friend who stays on one of the islands in the Gothenburg archipelago to barbecue and swim in the sea.

Oh - and my holiday officially started today - I put on the automatic answer function :)

Some people that I know have a blog called "The Medieval Hunt". They have made this both good and funny guide to ways to wear your hood 14th and 15th century style. With documentation and awesome musical choices.

Photos taken by Valeria at the demo for our SCA barony Gotvik:

Me posing:



( Another one )

The castle ruin, which you see some pieces of is from the 14th century and looks like this.

Or whatever you call it; the burgundy silk dress I'm wearing under what was my wedding dress. I have shortened the shoulder straps tonight, to make the bodice a little higher and I am going to wear a more low-cut smock and make sleeves from the same silk. But I think it looks very pretty even now.

The Ashmolean museum has a fine collection of printed cotton textiles from the 13th centuries onward. These are the 16th century ones, which unfortunately are fewer than the ones from the previous centuries. The are all found in Egypt.

Me and the big girls posing outside our tent. It was a very weird light from the setting sun, so our faces look very orange - it wasn't that bad in reality I think.